Potassium deficiency

Potassium is one of the most important element for plant nutrition. Compared with other metals, the amount of potassium in the plant is quite large, especially in a stem and leaves. Most of the potassium cations are contained in the cell sap maintaining the physiological concentration of the solution, the physiological state of the cell colloids. Aided by potassium, the processes of storing nutrients, their synthesis and transport are carried out. In young and rich with protoplasm cells, a large part of the potassium is in the adsorbed state. Another basic function of potassium is also a catalysis: it promotes the synthesis of high-molecular substances (such carbohydrates, starch, fats, proteins, etc.) and simple compounds. In addition, potassium increases the plant's resistance to stresses such as extreme temperatures, illnesses and others by increasing the turgor and reduction of water evaporation.

In comparison with phosphorus, the level of assimilation of potassium from fertilizers is at a rather high level. However, different plants take a lot of potassium from the soil. Vegetables absorb most of potassium: they can carry up to 400-500 kg of potassium with a crop. In addition, the high migration capacity of potassium ions is a significant problem of the using of potassium fertilizers that can result in a deficiency of this element in light soils (sandy, sandy-loamy) but with a high amount of precipitation the efficiency of potassium fertilizers also decreases. To avoid the lack of potassium wood ash is the easiest fertilizer. First big problem is a small amount of ash for processing large areas. To process 1 ha of soil you need more than 1 ton of ash. It is not an easy task to get such a large amount of it. Therefore, to eliminate the deficit of potassium, it is best to use ready-made fertilizers, such as NovaLand Seaweed Organic Extract. Organic fertilizers contain not only a lot of potassium, but also an organic substance, which assists to assimilate of potassium and accumulate it by the soil.

Now you know how potassium important for plants is and how to deal with it deficiency. However, how do you know that the plants do not have enough?

Diagnostic of a lack of potassium is considered quite a difficult exercise, because it may be a bit like both a lack of nitrogen and a lack of irrigation water for plants. If the excess of potassium is simple - stems and leaves of plants are strongly stretched without gaining mass, then with a lack of potassium it appear several symptoms.

It is important to understand that in a case of a lack of nitrogen mostly young leaves and shoots suffer, the lack of potassium is manifested mainly on old leaves and shoots. Also, lack of potassium and insufficient watering, they have the same symptom: plants loss of turgor by leaves and become a sluggish.

The main sign of potassium, among others, is the marginal burn: the edges of the leaves of the plants become yellow. Yellowing eventually spreads deep into the leaf plate, and the yellowed parts become dry and then die. Potassium deficiency can also be accompanied by other symptoms, such as the formation of yellow and brown points on the leaves, deformations of the leaf blade.

If you do not respond appropriately and do not fill the lack of potassium with fertilizers, such as Novaland Seaweed Organic Extract, growth will slow down considerably; plants will less tolerate stress and environmental conditions. In addition, during the flowering period you can observe leaf fall and fruits will have a low masses and small sizes. Formed new shoots will be deformed. Potassium deficiency is one of the main causes of low yields in both agricultural production and plant growing by farmers.

In addition, without the use of potassium fertilizers, such as Novaland Seaweed Organic Extract, the resistance of plants to fungal diseases decreases, which will force you to use chemical compounds, which definitely will not make your products healthy and useful.

However, doses of potassium fertilizers should be carefully calculated, because excessive potassium affects the intake of calcium and magnesium, so use fertilizers wisely.

Phosphorus deficiency

In previous article we told about lack of nitrogen in plants, how dangerous it is and how to deal with it or prevent it with the help of Novaland.

Today we will talk about phosphorus – the second essential element from NPK. Phosphorus is the same important element for plant nutrition like nitrogen or potassium for obtaining best harvest. Phosphorus is a part of a large amount of chemical compounds in the plant like phosphatide, nucleotide, enzyme etc. It also is a part of cell nucleus and membranes. In addition, phosphorus is directly involved in the processes of glycolysis and respiration. Phosphorus can be stored in the composition of the cell sap, having a direct effect on the physiological state of the cell and its chemical composition. The greatest need for phosphorus manifests in plants in the early stages of growth and during flowering. Phosphorus is the main element necessary for normal germination of seeds, so the use of phosphate fertilizers including Novaland Seaweed is mandatory when planting seeds.

The first symptoms of phosphorus deficiency are dull blue-green spots on the surface of the leaves. In a case of strong lack of phosphorus it forms red-violet spots on the leaves of plants. The tips of leaves with a strong phosphorus deficiency look burnt with signs of necrosis. If you do not take the necessary measures to eliminate phosphorus starvation, then plants can die.
If you do not provide plants with phosphorus applying NovaLand Seaweed and Seapower fertilizers shoots will look short, the leaves shallow, and the plants themselves will lag behind in growth and a yield will be very low. In addition, with a lack of phosphorus ovaries can crumble and the fruit will cease to form.

However, the use of phosphorus fertilizers is not enough to prevent phosphorus deficiency. The point is that phosphorus binds easily with strongly alkaline and acidic reactions of the soil and becomes not accessible to plants. Therefore, for better accessibility of phosphorus, it is necessary to monitor the reaction of soil environment, maintaining it within pH range of 5.5-7.
An important nuance of the use of phosphate fertilizers, including Novaland Seaweed and Seapower, is their mandatory mixing with the soil. The fact is that most of the batteries are easily soluble in water and easily spread as vertically (from top to bottom with irrigation water and rain) and in the horizontal plane. However, phosphorus fertilizers are poorly soluble in water, in view of which they practically do not migrate in the soil, lingering locally at the sites of application. In this case, if phosphorus fertilizers are not mixed with the soil, supersaturation of the upper soil layer with phosphorus may occur, which leads to deficiency of zinc and iron for young plants.

Phosphorus is a pretty whimsical element, but it is quite simple to eliminate phosphorus deficiency: it is necessary to use phosphorus fertilizers (for example, Novaland Seaweed or Seapower) before planting the plants, mixing them well with the soil. In addition, it is worth remembering that the effectiveness of using phosphorus depends on the overall balance of nutrition. The greatest effectiveness of phosphorus fertilizers is observed when nitrogen, potassium and a common complex of microelements, for example, contained in Novaland Nano6, are used together. The use of phosphorus fertilizers (triple superphosphate, superphosphate, etc.) undoubtedly prevents the lack of this element. However, to create the optimal balance of batteries, you need to use complex fertilizers, such as Novaland Seaweed or NovaLand SeaPower. They contain in their composition not only a balanced complex for the nutrition of most plants, but also have a high content of organic matter, which allows improving the fertility of the soil, along with the growth of your crop.

Lack of nitrogen

Chlorosis, yellow leafs, growth slowdown, thin shoots, little leafs and low yield. If you see it when your plants growth we guess your plants lacks nitrogen. To prevent the future problems you need to use fertilizers such as Novaland Seaweed.

Let us talk why applying of nitrogen fertilizers is so important for our plants and us.

For a normal plant growth, they need macro and micro (trace) elements. Plant gets different elements from the different sources. For example, most of carbon (C) they take from the air, however most of hydrogen (H) plants take from the water. Despite the fact that there is 78% of nitrogen in the air, most of the plants cannot accumulate it. The most part of nitrogen plants take from the soil, where that nutrition element presents in a dissolved form. The main problem is plant takes many of nitrogen from soil for normal growth and yield. An addition, some amount of nitrogen loses with irrigation water: dissolved nitrogen merges into the lower layers of the soil, where roots is absent. Another amount loses with denitrification by specific bacteria in the soil. Denitrification bacteria convert NO3- ion from the solution to gaseous N2, which is not available for plants.

In this case, if you do not prevent nitrogen loses from the soil with fertilizers like Novaland Seaweed Organic Liquid or NovaLand Seaweed Organic Extract you can lose the yield and their quality. In addition, soil will be poor for future crops.

It is hard to overestimate the importance of nitrogen for a plant: it consist many compounds like protein, chlorophyll, nucleonic acid, vitamins, enzymes. It means that lack of nitrogen makes plants less useful for our nutrition.

So how we can see the lack of nitrogen?

The first and the main sign of nitrogen lack by the plants is, actually, the chlorosis. Despite the fact that chlorosis is a very common symptom for a number of conditions and diseases of the plant, it is a first sign that can say: plants can have not enough of nitrogen. Because the lack of nitrogen, chlorosis usually starts by yellowing of leaf veins. An addition, oldest leafs start to yellowing, so the lower leaf dies before the upper young one.

In a case, when leaf becomes yellow, but their veins still green it can say of potassium fertilizers overdose.

Lack of nitrogen manifests itself in other symptoms: deceleration of plant growth, backlog in plant development, thinning of shoots, leaves, small inflorescences, deterioration of branching of a plant, etc.
When lack of nitrogen is appear plants get old faster, leafs fall, fruits mature permanently.

Therefore, when you see a sign of nitrogen lack you need to add fertilizer with nitrogen, like NovaLand Seaweed Organic Liquid or Novaland Seaweed Organic Extract, faster to prevent irreversible consequences. Period, when plants accumulate most part of a nutrition element called “critical period” for plant. Commonly, in a critical period of plant growths lack of element is appear often. If you lose time and do not take prompt measures to replenish nutrition element at a critical period, the plant may completely die, or not yield a crop.

Nano-fertilizers – the future has come

Food is a basic need of a human, without which he cannot begin to satisfy the others. By Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, without food, a person cannot feel them safe, enjoy the culture, study new, or express himself in the struggle for a common cause. In addition, this is true, because in the absence of a full-fledged, healthy and high-quality nutrition, not only the motivation, but also the health status of a person, his health and activity, is reduced. Nano-fertilizers are necessary for the production of nutritious and biologically pure products. According to IGC forecasts, made in January, grain consumption in 2018 will exceed production by 4 million tons. Imagine yourselves that 4 million tons of grain. A city with population of 1 million people consume an average 3000-4000 tons of provision per day.

The United Nation's population division suggested that the global population could peak at seven to eight billion by the middle of the century. The mid-range scenario has the population at around ten billion that is about 150% of population of the world today. However, the increase in crops and livestock production is 1% per year. In addition, with the increase in livestock production, more and more grain and vegetables are consumed.

Nevertheless, the planet has its own plans: every year more and more lands come out of the arable land. One part of the land is deserted, the other is saline, and the third is polluted because of anthropogenic factors. The use of increased doses of fertilizers is not advisable, due to a decrease in the effectiveness of fertilizers with an increase in the amount of their application. Moreover, the use of increased doses of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers pollute underground water and, consequently, lakes and ecosystems.

To produce crops, plants need nutritive elements – essential elements. Essential elements are divided in two groups, according to the required quantity: macroelements (such as oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and trace elements (calcium, magnesium, iron, sulfur, manganese, borom etc). In other classifications, distinguish meso- and ultramicro-elements, which are presents in nano-fertilizers.

Plants can receive all necessary elements from atmosphere and soil in certain amount. However, if any element is in short supply, the plant deteriorates physiological condition, it can be prone to disease, the harvest will decrease, and its quality will decrease. In this case, even if one element, presented in nano-fertilizers, is missing, the use of a large number of other fertilizers may not have any effect. This principle is called the "barrel of Liebig" (Law of the Libich minimum).

It is for this reason, for the correct use of the macroelements, the plant must be provided with microelements in nano-fertilizer, and their application is necessarily for plants.

From 6 essential macroelements the plant can receive only 3 in a high amount: hydrogen and oxygen from water (H₂O), carbon from carbon dioxide (CO₂). Nevertheless, the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the soil is limited.

Air composed by 78% of molecular nitrogen (N₂), 21% of oxygen (O₂) and 1% of other gases. Then why do plants lack nitrogen? The problem is the plants cannot receive nitrogen from air in a high amount, except legumes, who have special formations on the roots – root nodules (Rhizobium). In other cases, the main source is a mineral nitrogen in the soil and nitrogen from nano-fertilizers.